Quirk
by Demonic Device
Summary: Summary: N/A Here's a scrap for you, though. Nero finds himself plagued by a demon. Not exactly yaoi, but there's instances of male/male interaction that just might bloom into a "romantic" relationship between Nero and Dante . Story is on hold, due to school.
1. Chapter 1

**EDIT: **Chapter 1 was edited July 17, 2012. Author's Notes and such remain intact, the story itself was just rearranged and rephrased so that it wouldn't have bulky paragraphs.

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**Author's Notes**: Well, I'll try to keep this brief (hopefully). Anyways, this is my first fanfiction, to be honest, and yeah, I am pretty uneducated in the art of writing. So, I'm apologizing beforehand for shit mistakes like grammar, format, spelling, etc. Oh, and **plot**, or lack of thereof. This is un-beta'd (still trying to figure out the lingo of this site, by the way) because no way in hell am I ever letting anyone I know in real life read this, and I have yet to truly befriend someone online (and on here) that could edit my writing. So, moving onward, this is just totally random bullshit writing. I didn't plan ahead, just began typing. So, this story thus far is looking to be AU-ish? or maybe it's just OOC. Either or. It's basically DMC4 Dante and Nero, but I sincerely doubt I'm portraying their personalities accurately, especially Nero's, so yeah. Oh, wait, I said story. Wow. I don't know what is to become of this fanfic, if I do say so myself. Like I mentioned before, it's just mindless writing, and there are only two ways it can go from here. So, I might just leave this alone, which in that case I'm wondering why I'm going to post it/have posted it, or, I might try to salvage it, though that might mean that I might rewrite this chapter entirely, which again leaves my wondering why I am/have posted it, yadda yadda.

**ANYWAYS**-

I'll just say that this is M for Mature, 18+, etc, because I like to curse. A lot. It just happens. I really don't think it's a bad thing, but then again, that's just me. (I don't curse a lot in real life, which is amusing to me, but considering I'm writing about two badass people, it's going to happen. I can't fight it, haha.) Also, hmm. I don't write yaoi. It's not that I wouldn't want to, but seriously, I AM A FUCKING VIRGIN (something I shouldn't be typing in Caps Lock at a public library, haha). I don't know how that shit works. Even if I do read a lot of it. Or have been, ever since I joined this site. Which was quite recently. However, I do like Dante and Nero, pouts, you know, _together_. So... Hell, I already said I don't know where this is all going, but, so far, Dante hasn't buttfucked Nero, or vice versa. Dante only teases Nero about that kind of shit. If I continue this, maybe there will be an inkling of a relationship? So... M/M? Let's just say there's a slight possibility of a homosexual relationship, haha. (Seriously, lingo.) Basic warning summary: Swearing and male/male relationship, "Yaoi"? (possibly, if I continue with this fic).

**Disclaimer**: No, I do not own, in any way, the characters, places, events, etc, portrayed in the games, anime, novels, manga, and other such things. Those all belong to Capcom, and whoever else worked on aforementioned items. Or their owners, at least. I don't think I've remotely written anything original into this fic, such as OCs or other locations and shit, but if they eventually show up, or whatever, those will belong to me, and I'd appreciate it if they weren't to be reused, if anyone were to actually be interested enough in them to want to do such a thing.

I'm totally cutting this thing short, otherwise I'll just fucking go on griping.

(There will be more to read at the end, anyways, haha.)

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Nero absentmindedly flicked clawed, glowing fingers at the rapidly healing wound on his forearm, the corners of his mouth twitching into a barely discernible smirk. A hiss of pleasure was driven past his lips as pins and needles ran the length of his arm to and fro. The mild tingling was driving him insane, the pain it yielded raw and stinging, but it felt so _good_.

The youth basked in the glorious sensation, relishing in the delightful ripple of pain, but it was over all too soon. Said sensation only lingered for a few seconds, the knitting of skin delayed by the momentary reopening of the wound, before the skin proceeded to seal itself shut.

Nero blinked at the unscathed pale limb he beheld, marred only by the dark demon blood congealing on it. Not even a thin mark of white was left in the wound's stead. The smirk disappeared to be replaced with a frown, and a tiny groan of disappointment was heard. The teen pulled down on the sleeve of his thin hoodie, the demonic blood scraping off of his arm and attaching itself to the red fabric, inevitably darkening it. He kicked out his right leg, connecting with nothing but air as the other joined it; he began swinging both legs unevenly over the side of the two story building below him. Placing both hands palm down behind him, he braced his arms as they made contact with the rough texture of the roof, and he leaned back into them.

Staring at what he could make out of the city's skyline against the setting sun, the male shivered. The dying glow of the star's light felt warm against his body, but the warmth was countered by a slow, yet relentless breeze that gathered him into its caress. He tugged at the thin hoodie, wrapping it closer to his body, but to no avail. A soft buzzing made him start, but it was just the agency's sign flickering to life. Magenta light blossomed in and overflowed from the letters in which it was supposed to be contained, proclaiming to the encroaching darkness that this was indeed the demon exterminating business known as Devil May Cry.

Without fully thinking his actions through, the teen found himself falling, having pushed himself off of the ledge he'd just been occupying. Legs buckled beneath him a moment later, and he rolled once to save face, instead of collapsing from the shock that ran up and through his body upon the point of impact. Springing up, he turned on his heel and strode up the few steps and double doors before him. Dante looked up as the doors slammed open, the towel draped haphazardly around his shoulders threatening to slide off as the pizza slice that was halfway to his mouth halted.

The kid strutted in, arms held out wide at shoulder level. They dropped to his sides as he took a step into the building, the doors shutting somewhat noisily as soon as he had cleared them. Nero grinned, taking in the sight of Dante before him, wearing nothing but tight, faded gray jeans that most likely used to be black before countless washes aged them.

"Damn, kid," the elder commented, momentarily startled, but then the pizza resumed its journey. He took a bite out of the hot slice, chewing slowly as Nero approached him. Swallowing, he jerked a thumb behind him in the general upstairs direction. "Shower's free now, unless you want to eat something first?" He waved at the pizza box, which lay open on the old wooden desk Dante so frequently napped at in lieu of his bedroom.

Nero paid no mind to what the man said, instead focusing his attention on the water droplets that were sliding down from silvery locks onto his face. The clear liquid followed the contours of Dante's jaw before sliding and plopping down to his chest, the drops that weren't absorbed by the towel trailing their way further along to the elder hunter's stomach, and, eventually, into his pants.

Dante raised a brow as he noticed what the teen's eyes were focused on. "What?" he teased. "Pizza's not good enough?" With the hand that was holding the piece of pie, Dante gestured at his body. "See something else you'd rather eat?" he insinuated, his trademark smirk making its way across his face. Nero licked his lips slowly and his grin returned.

"You're fucking sick, you know that, old man?" he quipped, his nostrils flaring slightly. His gaze instead went back to the pizza box, and then to the weapons beside it. Blue Rose sat next to Ebony and Ivory, the blue rose it was named after winking up at him as the final rays of sun hit it through the window, before the ball of light finally sank past the horizon. Quick as a cat, Nero sprang forward, snatching the revolver up, inspecting it, and ignoring the elder male to his left.

"You love it," the older hunter replied, knowing that the comment was lost on the ex-Order member. Sure enough, the other male didn't stir at the words. Not much seemed to penetrate the kid's mind when he acted like this, in the middle of a "high" as Dante liked to refer to it. The peculiar quirk that Nero exhibited, usually starting at the end of missions, made the teen giddy and impulsive, and entirely oblivious to the things he did not care to notice.

Dante had at times attempted to guess as to what caused the oddity, but he could never come up with anything conclusive. His first guess had been demonic bloodlust, but when he did not recollect himself ever experiencing what the younger male did, he'd pushed the thought aside. Nothing else that came to mind after had made much sense, either, and he'd eventually just given up and chalked it up to a huge adrenaline rush, letting the issue be. Nero would eventually wind down, anyways, settling back into his normal self, which was all that mattered. Besides, the kid was kind of cute in this state, in a punk ass way.

The elder demon slayer shrugged and grabbed the pizza box when Nero didn't bother grabbing the food, heading to the leather couch off to the side of the room. Nero didn't acknowledge the flickering of the television as the older man turned it on, nor the grunt that accompanied it as he tried adjusting the television for better reception. Two thuds accompanied by a complaint of groaning wood, however, did tell him that Dante had succeeded in his goal and was now absorbed in whatever program had entertained him, his legs spread out before him on the coffee table.

It was at this that the teen looked up from his gun, his dilated blue eyes searching for his beloved sword, the Red Queen. He didn't have to look far, though, as it was propped up beside a speaker, Rebellion accompanying it. His grin stretched wider, and he couldn't give a fuck if he looked like a maniac, he just knew that he had to have that bloody sword in his hands. Hastily holstering Blue Rose, he twirled to the side of the desk and came to an abrupt halt in front of the swords, left hand shooting out to grip the red handle. He itched to rev the sword, but the impulse abandoned him as quickly as it had come.

Feeling comforted at the heavy weight of the blade, the teen darted for the stairs, each footfall barely making a sound as he made his way around Dante. It seemed of the outmost importance that he sneak his weapons upstairs, though in all seriousness, the odds of doing that were slim to none. The leather couch the other male lounged on _faced the fucking stairs_. Undaunted by the task however, the kid started up the steps, keeping an eye glued on the elder, who not once bothered looking up from the television set in front of him.

Once at the top, Nero held back the urge to crow at his victory, and instead settled for a satisfied hiss. Downstairs, Dante rolled his eyes at the noise. The kid's actions had not escaped his peripheral vision, but he had decided to just keep quiet and keep his eyes focused on the screen, not feeling the need to call out to the kid. _Whatever._ It's not like he cared what the kid did with his stuff.

His attention returned to the screen in front of him, and he couldn't help but let out a chuckle as a zombie ambled across the screen, closing in on its human prey. Zombies were similar enough to demons, the elder hunter mused. He tapped the middle of his forehead with an index finger. _Headshot._ An image of Lady suddenly flooded his mind, and he scowled, deciding to change the channel.

Upstairs, Nero paced the storage-turned-guest-room that had been his for the past month or so, give or take a couple days. He exhaled a breath through clenched teeth, shaking slightly as his hands balled into fists. His head was throbbing and he couldn't help the low moan he gave, stopping him in his tracks.

Nero was coming down from his high. A snarl reverberated throughout the small room in retaliation, and the ex-Order member stalked to the closet in the corner, nearly yanking the door off of its hinges with the sheer force he opened it with.

A few hangers clattered to the floor as he tugged on clothing, his hands coming away with a nondescript navy tee and worn blue jeans, frayed across the knees. With a disgruntled noise, he slammed the door shut, turning next to an old bureau. From this he pulled out black boxers and tube socks, abandoning the socks on the bed.

With clothes in tow, the teen retreated from his room, approaching the bathroom next door. Clicking the lock in place, he leaned against the wood in the semi-dark, his devil bringer illuminating the small space. A sigh whistled through the male's nose and he began to strip, flicking the light switch on when his fingers encountered Blue Rose. Debating on going back to the room to set the revolver next to Red Queen on the nightstand, he opted instead for wrapping the customized weapon in his red hoodie, making sure that every inch was covered before carefully placing the bundled package on the sink's counter.

The rest of his clothes just slid off the wall and landed next to his boots, disregarded as Nero pulled back the shower curtain, letting it fall back in place once he had stepped into the tub. A groan of relief filled the room, the warm water that hit the teen between his shoulder blades very welcome indeed. He started to automatically scrub and wash at his body, not paying any mind to what he was doing, as he was still in the grips of the high that had overcome him earlier, despite its weakened state.

His thoughts sluggishly wandered to the memories of the mission Dante and he had completed hours earlier. A lazy smile curved his lips, pleased that he'd been allowed to keep a substantial amount of the pay the job offered this time. He usually gave it to Dante, under the guise of helping him clear his debt with Lady, an arrangement Nero had made with the woman. In reality it was in exchange for the fact that Dante was giving him a roof to sleep under, even though the older male had made it clear that he neither wanted nor expected any payment for their living arrangements.

A snort broke Nero from his thoughts, only to realize that he had been the one to emit the noise. He shivered, the once warm water now running clear and cold down his body, swirling lazily at the bottom of the tub before being sucked down the drain. How long had he been lost in his thoughts? He hastily grabbed at a shampoo bottle, not caring to differentiate between Dante's and his, pouring a liberal amount of the sweet smelling liquid into his palm before he massaged it into his hair. A knock on the door made him flinch, and he mentally cursed at himself.

"Hey kid, you alright in there?" Dante's voice was muffled by the wood. "Did you drown or something?"

Nero could hear the grin in the elder's voice as he asked his next question. "Need me to come in there and help you out?" The hot-headed youth could guess at which kind of "help" Dante was willing to offer, and it didn't include rescuing him from drowning in the shower like a turkey supposedly did in rain.

"Wouldn't you like that?" he grumbled in response. A low chuckle told him that Dante had heard.

"Maybe," came the insinuating reply. Nero scowled.

"What do you want?" he queried, running his fingers through the thick lather once more before tilting his head into the onslaught of cold water to rinse it off.

"To fuck you."

Nero sputtered at the bold statement, nearly gagging as shampoo entered his mouth. He quickly spat it out, the high he had been riding crashing down and finally abandoning him as he heard Dante roaring with laughter.

"You're a real treat, you know that?" Nero growled, once the bitter taste of shampoo had been cleansed from his mouth.

"Damn straight. I'm downright irresistible." Dante grinned, assuming correctly that the loud banging he now heard was Nero pounding his fist against the tiled wall. He waited until it died down before continuing, still grinning despite himself, knowing that the other was probably blushing madly. "Anyways, I just wanted to tell you that another pizza is on its way. I was hungry, and those slices I was saving for you were too tempting." He heard the water shutting off and remained at the door, waiting for a response or a sign of acknowledgement.

A few seconds later, the door opened slightly. Through the opening, Dante was faced with Nero, who was leaning against the frame, a hand above his head and a towel around his waist. A mock frown was gracing his face.

"And here I thought you were being serious when you said you wanted to fuck," he mused, stroking his chin thoughtfully as his fingers ran through a nonexistent beard. Dante quickly caught onto the bluff, but couldn't resist teasing the kid some more. He was practically begging for it, trying to play on Dante's turf.

"Babe, all you have to do is ask." With a suggestive wink, the elder male made as if to enter the bathroom, but Nero's eyes widened and Dante caught the hint of a blush before the door was abruptly slammed shut in his face. Dante laughed again. "You can't win," he gloated, chalking up another tally in the mental score he kept against the youngster. He was definitely slaughtering the kid.

"F-fucking pervert," Nero gasped, slowly dying as he slid down the door. Oh yeah, his cheeks were definitely burning, he could tell.

"Only words," was Dante's cheery response, before the sound of retreating footsteps told Nero that the older male was descending the stairs, presumably to resume watching the program that he had abandoned when he felt the need to tell Nero of their pizza dilemma. Slapping a hand lightly to his face, Nero groaned, picking himself up off the floor.

He dried himself off and pulled on his clothes, ridding the floor of his previously discarded garments. With Blue Rose still wrapped in the red hoodie in his curled right arm, brown boots carried in his left hand, he padded down the hall, turning to follow in Dante's footsteps down the steps. Once clearing them, he turned to look in the general living room area of the shop where Dante indeed was sprawled out on the couch. A leer was sent his way before Nero bolted into the kitchen to his right, ears reddening as he heard the other demon slayer snicker.

_Arrogant asshole_.

Nero made his way through the kitchen, his destination beyond the lone door at the other end of the room. His breathing became labored, his stomach endlessly clenching and unclenching as he approached the dreaded door. Managing to grasp the knob with his right hand, he pulled the door open with a leg; he descended another flight of stairs, albeit shorter than its brethren, into the building's basement.

With only the light of the kitchen funneling down into the room, along with his devil bringer guiding him, Nero hurriedly went about the business of putting his clothes to wash. He dragged a nearby laundry basket to the machine, sorting through his soiled clothing. He hated being in this room, and the fact that he had no real reason to feel the anxiety that continually grew in him the longer he stayed in it only served in helping to hate it even more. It had been like that since the first time he'd stepped foot in the room, and it didn't seem like the sensation was going away any time in the near future.

As soon as the familiar sloshing of water commenced, the youth grabbed the straps of his holster, along with Blue Rose, unconsciously slipping his finger against the trigger in his dash back up the stairs. The door was slammed shut behind him and he rested against it, panting slightly. Immediately, the sense of dread that had been building in his chest abandoned him, leaving him feeling a bit light-headed.

Dante looked up from the sink, setting aside the dish he'd just rinsed, some globs of ice cream still clinging to its sides. He ignored the teen's odd behavior, having brought it up before when the punk had come running up the steps the second time in the same amount of days, but the kid had just slapped aside his inquiries. He had let the matter go, assuming that Nero would come to him if his little "issue" actually became debilitating. He was, however, curious as to what made the kid nervous enough to sprint back into the kitchen each and every time. From what he had seen, the kid really wasn't the antsy type. Regardless, Dante made a note to replace the broken bulb in the basement, but sincerely doubted the younger male feared the dark.

_His arm's a fucking nightlight, for cryin' out loud._ Dante grunted, slightly amused. Before a grin could snake its way onto his face, however, the ice cream bowl he'd just released exploded. Water splashed everywhere as shards embedded themselves into the half demon's hand and a few jumped up to graze his cheeks. Eyes widening, they fixated on the teen still across the room from him, azure eyes mirroring the shock the elder hunter expressed. The hand holding up Blue Rose was shaking slightly, and Nero felt his mouth moving, but nothing came out. Seeing his inability to communicate, the elder man spoke first.

"Alright, kid, we've got to talk about this little fear of yours." Immediately, Nero snapped out of his temporary stupor, lowering his weapon as his devil bringer raked through his white locks nervously, his panting more obvious.

"What? No!" He shook his head profusely, but refused to make eye contact with the other male.

Dante pursed his lips, debating on pursuing the matter. He still wasn't really bothered enough to grill the kid about what was happening, even if said kid had now progressed from just displaying fear to displaying violent tendencies against imagined threats. He began picking at the glass in his hand, the itching skin needing to be cleared of all irritations before it would begin sealing.

"Wait."

Dante quirked a brow but did so, continuing to tend to his hand.

"What?" he said when Nero didn't say anything, realizing an answer was expected of him.

"You're not… You're not going to kick me out, are you?" At this, the devil hunter stopped picking out the bits of glass. The question had surprised him, truth be told, but now that he mulled it over, it clarified some things in his mind. Such as how despite remembering the teen as being a snarky punk, Nero had been unusually restrained when he had first moved in. His cocky nature hadn't begun emerging until a week had elapsed from his arrival, and even then he was still cautious around the older devil hunter. Now Dante realized that he'd been afraid he'd be asked to leave if he did something he considered drastic. Apparently shooting bowls was one of those things, or whatever. He snorted.

"Kid, you do weirder shit when you're under the influence of that little high of yours. Why the fuck would I kick you out over shooting shit dishware?" At this the teen visibly relaxed, but there was still some concern etched into his face. Dante continued.

"You've only been here a few weeks. Okay, hell, you've been here a month. You'd have been gone the first week if I didn't think I could tolerate you. Sure, we're still figuring out what's going to tick the other off, but I'd say you're pretty much in the clear already. So don't worry about stupid little things like this," he concluded, turning from the teen and going back to fishing out the remaining glass in his hand. He moved his head to the side, angling his hand to see if his hand had healed fully once clean of the glass, but met with the cold resistance of a barrel.

Dante bit back a groan once he caught sight of the dilated pupils and insane smile on the ex-Order member's features. Apparently his little pep talk had assured the teen so much that he was now confident enough to be holding up his revolver to the elder's head. He vaguely registered in the back of his mind that someone had managed to sneak up on him. But back to the issue on hand. He had forgotten that sometimes the high would spike back, even after the kid had settled down. _See what I mean when I say you do crazier shit?_ He refrained from voicing the comment, though.

Aloud the elder male asked, "What do you think you're doing?" The devil hunter managed to catch sight of his hand to verify that it was back in its original state.

"Going hunting," the boy drawled, removing his weapon when he saw the other male wasn't fazed. At this, Dante grabbed the smaller by the shoulders, leading him roughly from the kitchen to the living room.

"Like hell you are," he replied, shoving down the thrashing teen onto the closest couch, repeating the motion when the he attempted to bolt up. "Listen kid," he said, grabbing Nero's chin to force him into to pay attention. "You haven't eaten yet, and I'm not letting you leave the damn shop until something is in that stomach of yours." Dante smirked as the kid's stomach growled in agreement, then continued. "After you have at least a couple of slices in you, you're free to do as you please." Blue eyes blinked twice at this statement, and the kid's crazy grin was back.

"_Sure_, sounds _great_ to me," he purred. Dante rolled his eyes

"Punk bitch," he muttered, releasing his grip on the younger male. Two pairs of eyes sought the door when knocking emanated from it, and a voice called out.

"Hello? Pizza delivery for Dante!" Nero, who had slouched into the couch, leapt up at the announcement, taut as a wire. He sauntered to the door before the elder male could voice his protest. Flinging a door wide open, Nero delved into the pizza box, snatching two slices much to the surprise of the male holding onto the package. Before the delivery man had a chance to react, the white haired youth executed an about face, sandwiching the slices together and scarfing them down in front of Dante.

"Can I go now, old man?" he sneered, licking the fingers of his human hand. He wanted to leave, was _dying_ to leave. The need to feel his sword singing in his hand and the recoil of his revolver as it slammed slug after slug into a demon's body was too great to ignore.

He could imagine it now. At the slap of his demonic palm and a pull of the trigger, Blue Rose would release a couple of magically charged rounds, thin streaks of light marking the path towards their target. Flesh would quiver from the impact of each bullet before Nero would follow with an upward swing of Red Queen, watching skin tear open, releasing a shower of blood. After halving the wretched creature, the magic would kick in and incinerate the remains, charring other demons if they were unfortunate enough to be close by to the beyond abused demon.

The teen almost started drooling at the image, focusing mainly on the blood. Its metallic tang hung thick in the air, and he could taste it as he licked his lips. Dante watched the kid lost in his little fantasy, noting how he had bitten his lip so hard that he had managed to break the skin, yet no pain registered in the boy's eyes. He briefly wondered again why Nero's odd quirk didn't bother him, but knowing that Nero didn't do anything extreme beyond slaying demons, he shrugged it off. Let the kid have his fun.

"Next time wait for the fucking pizza to be inside the shop before you start pawing your way into it," he retorted, but his answer was clear; Nero was free to go. Not that he had any real sway over the kid's decision to leave the shop whenever he pleased. Most of the time.

The deranged male nearly started glowing with pleasure, grabbing at Blue Rose as he passed the couch. The elder slayer walked in the opposite direction, to the door, taking the pizza and telling the delivery man to add it to his tab.

At the sound of the front door being shut, Nero was already up in the tiny bedroom, sheathing Red Queen on to his back, Blue Rose still in hand. He'd forgotten his boots and holster downstairs in his hurry to get the bloody sword. Shrugging nonchalantly, he slipped on the pair of socks he'd left on the bed and slid out of the room in his impatience. He approached the railing and flung himself over it, landing in front of the elder devil slayer in a crouch.

Surprisingly, Dante made no perverse remark upon seeing the boy below him, though maybe that was due to the mouthful of pizza that he was currently working his way through. Nero sat himself down on the spot, grabbing and tugging on his brown leather boots. Dante walked past him and a moment later the part demon felt something hit the back of his head. Considering it was light and stiff, the youth discerned that it was his holster, securing it around his thigh. Blue Rose was tucked away, and a sort of electricity ran through his body now that he was ready to leave.

Standing up, Nero readjusted the sword on his back. "Thanks," he said absentmindedly, waving vaguely in Dante's direction. He could feel the high falling, leaving him more in control of his actions now, instead of just impulsively doing shit, but he still felt the urge to hunt.

"Hmm?" Dante queried, swallowing the food in his mouth. He looked in the direction of the teen. "Well, would you look at that. The kid actually has manners. Aw, geez, you're welcome." He chuckled. "For whatever you're thanking me for," he added as an afterthought.

Nero wracked his brain. He would usually be annoyed at Dante's teasing tone, but the urge to bite back didn't present itself. He wondered if he could now differentiate between Dante wanting to piss him off, and Dante just being Dante. Though, was there really a difference? He cut the thought off, pupils dilating. Now wasn't the time to think. It was the time to _act._

"Don't wait up for me," he called over his shoulder, smirking as he stepped into the night.

"You know me," the elder hunter frowned at nothing in particular, his words heard only by the closing doors.

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So... What did you think? I would really appreciate any reviews, comments, etc, even if it's just to say that you read it. They'd be really helpful in helping me decide if I should continue this or not. Not to say that they'll be the sole reason if I do or don't, but they'll definitely be a factor.

This fic can go one of two ways: Nero doesn't come back, or he does. Depending on what happens, I'll be able to formulate a plot, musing.

Anyways, thank you for reading, and hopefully you don't feel like you just wasted whatever amount of time you spent reading this, cringes. Thanks again, and please, for the love of God, _please **review**_. Shot, haha.

PS: If there's anything necessary that I left out, such as in the disclaimer or warning, please alert me to it. I don't want to be like banned or sued, or something like that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes**: God, these things get ridiculously long, so I'm just going to put the warnings and disclaimer first, followed by my responses to reviews. Any other misc. info that I feel like adding shall be put after the story.

**Warning(s)**: Rated **M** for **Mature**, **18+**, etc., for **swearing**, **cursing**, and any and all **inappropriate language**. For those bothered by trifle things such as **two males kissing**, here's a **male/male** warning for you, **yaoi**, or whatever. I'll throw a caution for **violence** in there as well, just in case.

**Disclaimer**: No, I do not own, in any shape or form, the characters, places, events, etc., portrayed in the games, anime, novels, manga, and other such things associated with Devil May Cry. Those all belong to Capcom and whoever else worked on aforementioned items, or their owners, at least. Anything that is unfamiliar, such as OCs, are definitely mine, and I'd appreciate it if they weren't to be reused, if anyone were to actually be interested enough in them to want to do such a thing.

**Responses to Reviews**

So, I'll be responding to the reviews that I can't message back to right here. (I might eventually just respond to all reviews here.) Anyways, heads up: if I don't know your gender, you'll probably be addressed as a male, unless I'm corrected. ("He" is proper for both males and females. "Sir", whatever.)

**Blood**: I will be honest: I am a proud being. However, I also have the most fragile ego ever. Very sucky combination. So this made for cringing through your review, ahaha… But! I am determined to become stronger because of it! (Weak ego flailing.) And, I know you weren't like, totally trying to slaughter me, so I need to man up. -dry laughter- Anyways- Thank you. I really appreciate your suggestions, and the help you are offering. -re-reading through review at the moment-

Thank you for the welcome. :) I hope I shall be sticking around for a while. Also, duly noted about the warnings and boldfacing them. (Hopefully I did that right this time around.)

Story (Dying, must persevere. -calming down erratic heartbeat-): Ah yes, bitch paragraphs. I had meant to put this in my notes when I posted the first chapter, but they already seemed so long I didn't really want to continue dragging them out. I'll mention it now, though. I'm really used to only writing papers, in which my long paragraphs were praised, haha. But that's kind of beside the point. What I mean to say is that my only experience with starting a new paragraph in a story is when characters alternate speaking. Totally serious. And even then, I have no idea how I know that. (Also, now that I'm mentioning that, I don't even know if it's true, agh.) But I see what you mean. I'm looking over the first chapter again, and yeah, those paragraphs need to be broken. They're making me cringe. I'll be doing that when I have the time.

Secondly: I'm sorry, haha, but your words made me realize that my inner voice automatically speed reads or something. I always find myself having to force myself to read slower. I had to do just that with this review, hmm. When I was editing this chapter, I did that as well, and maybe hopefully it sort of helped my writing a tad bit? I'unno. As for the run-ons, I'll definitely be on the lookout for those, then, but I have a feeling I still have them in this chapter, shit.

Thirdly(!): You are correct, my good sir, no plot at all. Oh, wait, "semblance of a plot developing here"… Okay, actually, yeah, still correct. I actually left that "high" thing up for interpretation, or as I've been telling myself, it's there if I couldn't think of something else. I'll try to explain how I think; it's mostly visual, though. I think in the shape of trees…? (Ignore the high thing for the moment.) There's the story, and then there's the end. Story is the trunk, and the ending could have split into two ways, so branches. Depending on which path I chose (if Nero came back or disappeared), more branches would have spewed from there, and so on and so forth, until I had a plot. Or multiple, if I decided to reroute and shit. (Sorry if that made absolutely no sense, I'm not very good at explaining myself.) Whatever. The point is, if I got confused with my plot tree, I would have reverted to the hole that that "high" is. Which actually, I have done, ahhhh….

Finally: I am going to have hell with this. Oh joy. Oh fuck. Oh my God. (I actually enjoyed your paragraph/explanation though. :)) You are so right. This is killing me because I'm probably writing as if I were drawing, ahaha. Basically, yeah, fuck, I could probably draw with what I'm describing. xD Lord, I think I sound insane. (I'm giggling madly, facepalm.) You have no idea how badly I now feel like I should be molding clay with my words. Batshit insane, right there.

Anyway: Glad you enjoyed it! (Seriously, this paragraph saved me the first time I read this through, -awkward laugh-. I am now at peace with myself to enjoy your entire review. :)) And it's nice to know someone thinks I'm off to a good start. As well as hearing that they are in char, awesome.

Sex and love, hm. I'm fucking drawing a blank. Dante and Nero's relationship could swing either way at the moment. It's kind of too early to tell what exactly will go down with them. I seriously thought they'd end up together, but now I'm reconsidering. I'll be leaving up the "yaoi" warning for a few more chapters(?) for the time being, however. Though, I would love to do a romance fic, huzzah.

Thank you once more for everything!

(While I have a moment of sanity at the moment, yeah, I apologize if anything up there did not make sense, ahaha, ah… I'm extremely tired, yet my body will not let me rest. So yeah, hopefully my ramblings didn't scare you off.)

**nitemea**: I shall do my best to please. Thanks for reviewing!

**Everyone**: A big **THANK YOU** to y'all for your suggestions, comments, concerns, etc. It seriously makes me happy to know that somewhere out there people have read this story, and, surprisingly, have enjoyed it. :)

Now on to the story.

* * *

The night was colder than the youth had anticipated, the occasional breath of wind that licked at the nape of his neck managing to worm itself through the thin cotton of his shirt, leaving him shivering at its torturous touch. Within twenty minutes of having stepped foot outside the shop, the white haired male almost found himself wishing that he had thought to bring a jacket with him before he had left. Almost.

Undeterred by the nipping November weather, he continued walking at a relentless pace, working on putting as much distance as he could between the demon hunting agency and himself, stalking along dirty, abandoned streets in his quest to reach the outskirts of the city of Capulet. Taking care to avoid the dim lights that gathered in pools onto the cracked pavement below, he would occasionally peer down an alley that he happened to be passing. Most would be empty, but once or twice he spied figures huddled on broken steps further in, taking refuge against the unforgiving cold, swaddled in whatever rags they could find in their daily scourge of the city.

If Nero had been in his right mind, he would have found it in himself to pity the beings, but all he could muster at the moment was apathetic indifference. He forged ahead, his heart beating strongly in his chest, the steady pulsing of rushing blood reassuring in his ears. He flexed the talons of his devil bringer experimentally, the soft chinking of the rearranging and settling dark blue scales almost masking the sound of approaching footfalls.

Nero ignored the echoing sound at first, but tensed as he considered the possibility that someone might be following him. Yamato, of all weapons, was in his hand as he spun on his heel, the katana drawn as a warning for whoever was following him to retain their distance. Blue eyes blinked in surprise as the tip nestled in white flesh, nicking into the throat of a male slightly smaller than he, the blade bobbing up and down as the mysterious person swallowed and breathed shallowly, the air he exhaled puffing into small vapor clouds as it poured from his lips.

"How the hell-" the taller male began, but fell silent. He tried again. "What-" he queried, before choking on the word. "Have you been following me this entire time?" Nero finally sputtered, flabbergasted as different questions were vying to make themselves known. His mind couldn't comprehend what his senses were feeding him. The footsteps he had heard had been faint in his ears, telling him that his supposed pursuer had been quite a distance off, but here he was, inexplicably right before him.

Pale yellow eyes looked up at him steadily, unnerved by the steel still digging into the creamy soft skin. Instead of answering Nero's question, the younger boy reached out, ignoring the blade as it began to sink into his throat, drawing thin drops of blood that converged and trickled down into a hesitant line that disappeared beyond the neck of a black tee. Clawed fingers ghosted across the elder teen's cheeks, just barely warmer than the surrounding temperature. The touch was light, feathery in nature, only a subtle weight behind it, and Nero hardly registered it. The boy's eyes flicked to the side to stare beyond the demon hunter, disregarding the protests the other male gave him upon finally catching the sight of blood. He felt the weapon being drawn back, but before it had moved much, he spoke.

"Now is not the time for questions," he stated simply, his yellow gaze returning to meet the confused blue of the elder male's own. He allowed his hand to fall back to his side. There was a moment of silence as the younger boy appeared to be contemplating something, and then reconsidering the notion. "Run," was the single command Nero received.

Everything abandoned the demon hunter at the word: confusion, concern, and even reason itself, eyes glazing over into a dirty gray-blue as he submitted to the desire to obey. The ex-Order member only nodded once before Yamato dissolved in a flash of cerulean blue, sliding back into his devil bringer, and he took off, sprinting the remaining distance to the bordering forest, the desire to slay demons gone as the urgency to reach his destination now burned strongly in his mind. The yellow eyed youth stared at his retreating backside before disappearing into the nearest alley.

* * *

Loud panting interrupted the seeming quiet of the forest, but as Nero's breathing slowed down, different noises began to assault his hearing, the chirping of insects the most familiar of them all. Now that he had left the city behind and had reached the first few lines of trees, the stranger's hold over him began to slip, and he leaned against the trunk of a pine tree, trying to get his breathing back to normal. Waking from the yellow eyed boy's grasp in turn had burned up the remainder of the numbing high Nero had left the shop with, and he briefly wondered why he was where he was.

The soft crunching of dead leaves broke him from his thoughts and alerted him to the fact that he was once again no longer alone. Head whipping up in search of his company, Nero shuddered as cold fingers laced their way into his hair. Unable to pull back in time, his eyes widened in shock as soft lips pressed themselves to his own, now familiar yellow eyes staring back up at him in mild wonderment. The kiss, if it could even be called that, ended almost as quickly as it had started, and the older teen backpedaled until he was a good ten paces away from his original resting point.

"What the fuck was that?" he gaped, a hand coming up to wipe furiously at his lips, a futile attempt to dispel the light impression of soft lips he still felt pressed there. The boy cocked his head curiously at the action of the taller male.

"A kiss," he replied slowly, as if he was stating the obvious. And, well, he was.

"Yes, of course it was a kiss!" Nero said harshly, blushing despite himself, somewhat, make that _extremely_, mortified that he was acknowledging it for what it was. "What the hell was it for?" he whined, realizing, but not caring in the slightest, that he sounded childish. He bit his tongue, looking down. When he looked back up not a second later, the slightly younger male was once more upon him, only a step dividing them.

"Nothing in particular," the boy offered, shrugging a shoulder. His hands reached up as if to weave themselves in Nero's hair again, but the elder teen jerked backwards, and the hands faltered, before falling back, much to his relief. "No, nothing in particular," the boy repeated, an odd tone tingeing his voice. Nero couldn't quite put a finger on the emotion that was coloring it, but didn't dwell on it long, his mind already latching itself onto another question.

"Then why'd you do it?" he couldn't help asking. The boy peered up at him through thick lashes.

"Because I wanted to," was the maddening response. Nero quickly opened his mouth to object, on the verge of asking more questions, but a raised hand stopped him from doing so. The elder male in turn bit down on his tongue again, harder, on the verge of drawing blood. A haze was starting to fog up his mind, but he fought through it, intent on studying the male before him.

Said male was of slight stature, about two or three inches shorter than Nero himself. Pale yellow eyes were framed by long eyelashes, and mostly obscured by impossibly jet black hair that tumbled down in uneven locks to just below his chin, curling vaguely at the ends. He was dressed all in black, in the simplest clothes: a tee, flat tennis shoes, jeans, and a comfortable hoodie. From what Nero could tell, all his garments were tight-fitting, save for the aforementioned thick hoodie. That hung loosely on his frame, made more obvious by the way the boy had his hands shoved in the pockets, stretching the fabric away from his body as he pulled his arms forward, effectively creating an empty bulge in front of his stomach. Nero laughed despite himself, reminded of a childbearing woman, and the yellow eyed male looked at him, curiosity written on his face, but said nothing, turning away. Nero's laughter died, and the two were left in silence.

_So…_ The single syllable was drawn out in Nero's mind.

"So…" the boy mimicked aloud, glancing back at Nero, who, for the hell of it, forewent the shock at the other male voicing his thought and went with it. He plopped himself down on the dead grass below him, and patted the ground, inviting Nero to join him. That he did, albeit a bit warily. He removed Red Queen from her spot on his back, letting the heavy red sword rest across his lap. Yellow eyes sought it out with faint interest, but soon looked away, curiosity sated. Nero's curiosity had just begun to bubble back up, however.

"What are you?" The question was out of Nero's mouth before he even realized that he had spoken it, his tongue freed from their pearly prison. Soft chinking joined the sounds of the forest as he curled and uncurled the fingers of both hands repeatedly, the scales of his devil bringer endlessly in disarray as they tried to keep up with the action. He coughed, not entirely sure what had spurred him into asking the question.

The younger boy didn't say anything at first, seemingly transfixed by the surprisingly pleasant noise, turning to stare at the curious limb as he sought out the source of it. Hastily Nero stopped what he was doing, moving his hand to the side in an attempt to hide his demonic arm as best as he could, though it still glowed in the darkness. He scratched at his nose in distraction, wondering if the other male would answer his question. After a while of unwavering silence, Nero thought he wasn't going to receive a reply, so he was surprised when the other male spoke. Though the word he uttered seemed so random that he didn't know what to make of it.

"Genderless," the yellow eyed male shrugged slightly, tugging at blades of shriveled brown grass, his eyes glimmering with something that took Nero a second to place. When he did, he subconsciously drew back. Was that…_ laughter_? He frowned, not exactly getting the humor in the situation. Instead of finding answers, the devil slayer could only come up with more questions. Who was this guy? He definitely wasn't human, that much Nero could tell from his eyes, which, with a start, he realized had slits for pupils as he stared into them once more.

_Wait, what the…_

And, at the thought, right in front of him, they dilated and constricted, so as to take the form of nice, normal sized, _round_ pupils once more. The raven-haired boy smiled sweetly, as if nothing had happened. Nero choked back a gasp, suppressing a shudder.

Every instinct kicked in in full force to tell him that the male he was conversing with was a demon, and no matter what form it took, he should annihilate it, but he restrained himself, the rational part of his mind protesting that this was not the best course of action. He reasoned with himself that he didn't want to randomly attack someone who hadn't even shown the slightest violent tendency, demon or not, even if his body was prepared to argue otherwise. The chaste kiss he had received earlier decided to pop up in his mind's eye right about then, and he turned away suddenly, blushing heavily and scowling.

He could feel the yellow eyed boy still looking him over, however, and imagined the smile still gracing his lips. At this Nero began to get irritated.

"What the fuck am I doing out here?" he wondered once more, the query not meant for anyone in particular. "This is just stupid," he continued, disgusted at how he was a slave to demonic instinct, always submitting to his desire to hunt, not taking into consideration necessities like sleeping or eating. "Fuck this, I'm going back," he finished, shifting Red Queen and moving to get up.

The boy said nothing, only calmly continued his unbroken stare.

"Will you fucking stop that!" Nero growled, unnerved. A smile, of course, was his only response. "Little shit," the elder teen muttered, annoyed. He was beyond frustrated with his situation. It was cold out, he was feeling heavy pangs of hunger from only having eaten the two slices of pizza Dante had requested of him, and his nerves were being tested by the mysterious male with his answers and non-answers. Yeah, he wasn't having any of it. He grasped at Blue Rose, making sure she was secure in her holster, and making as if to get up once more.

"Is that what I am?" The voice that uttered the question was quiet, contemplative, and ever so serious.

Nero froze, azure eyes sliding back to meet the frown on the other boy's face, realizing he had spoken. He wasn't sure he had heard correctly, or rather, he wanted to make sure that he had. "What?" he asked, incredulous. The boy's frown deepened, and he looked perplexed.

"Is that what I am?" he repeated, tugging at his hoodie. He looked down at the curled fingers grasping the comfortable black material, but didn't seem to see them. "I'd rather not be," he continued. "It doesn't seem like it'd be something pleasant at all," he reasoned, drawing his knees to his chest and drawing a circle absentmindedly on the right one. At first Nero gazed at him stupidly, but once the words finally made sense, he couldn't help but snicker, which slowly but surely grew into outright laughter. The boy glanced up once as if to question the elder teen's reaction, but then looked back down, swallowing his words, and went back to wallowing in his thoughts.

"I'm sorry," Nero wheezed, finally regaining his breath a few minutes later. In all that while the younger male hadn't looked back up at him, continuing to trace the invisible circle on his right knee, sometimes furiously, at other times in a lazy fashion. "Hey," he tried again, not sure if he had been heard. He reached out with his human hand to tap the youth on his shoulder, but as if anticipating the action, the yellow eyed boy looked up. Nero cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Well, if I'm not that, then what am I?" The boy picked up right off as if Nero hadn't just been laughing his ass off for the past couple of minutes. Nero became uncomfortable.

"I'unno," he muttered, swiping at his nose nervously. He didn't get what the other male wanted. What he didn't expect was the crestfallen expression that befell the other's face as soon as he heard Nero's response.

"No," he whimpered pathetically, fingers coming back up to clasp at the hoodie. Nero wondered if the action was an unconscious habit of the smaller male.

"How can you not know what you are?" Nero countered, trying to make headway. The younger teen wasn't really making sense.

Something inside of the younger male snapped at the question.

"You've never really clarified anything about me!" the boy cried, exasperated. "I am nothing, empty, null." He choked on the last sentence, unhappiness beginning to radiate from him in large waves. Nero attempted to process what he'd just been told, the yellow eyed boy forging ahead without him.

"All I know is that you and I, we're almost the same," he sighed. The statement was uttered in a dreamy tone, and it was this that caught Nero's attention.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Before he could protest, Nero found Red Queen to be replaced in his lap by the male himself, his legs wrapped around the devil hunter's waist in a tight grip.

"Listen," he whispered. The command stilled Nero's body, the elder teen succumbing once more to the desire to obey. His body slackened, his mind drawing a blank as his attention focused entirely on the boy in his lap.

Cold fingers came up to stroke rosy cheeks, and the yellow eyed male took a hesitant breath. "I've never really done this before," he said quietly, tilting his head to the side. He leaned closer until their lips were brushing. "And I don't think you've done this, either," he mused, trying to sift through his knowledge of the ex-Order member. It wasn't much, and he shrugged a lone shoulder when nothing_ important _came up, deciding to just go ahead with his plan, disregarding the fact that he was about to steal Nero's first _real_ kiss.

Nero flinched as unwelcome lips pressed messily against his own, wanting nothing more than to shove the other boy off of him, but his body refused to move. Behind the command to listen had been another to remain still and seated, so he had to do just that. It didn't stop him from glaring daggers, or a growl from building in his throat, however, and he felt satisfied when the other male stiffened at the sound, pausing momentarily in his sloppy administrations, but panicked when said male decided to continue.

_Fucking kill me now…_ He groaned inwardly, defeated when a tongue pried his lips apart and slipped in between, timidly exploring his mouth. It could've been worse, he reasoned. At least he wasn't kissing _back_.

A curious sensation began to fill the elder teen the longer the yellow eyed male ran his tongue across the interior of his mouth. It began as a tingle that would smooth over into a numbing sensation, something so maddeningly familiar that he couldn't quite place until the feeling overtook him.

_Oh shit. _

With a snarl, Nero broke all restraints against himself and pushed the younger male off, only to shove him onto his back on the hard ground as he settled on his hips, straddling the dumbfounded boy. He grinned wickedly, dilated eyes taking in the sight before him.

"Should I be thanking you?" he purred, lapping up the barrage of images, memories, feelings, and other miscellaneous information the other male was offering him. Said information was almost tangible, and Nero relished in it, content that he was finally going to get answers that he been desperate for earlier, though he now felt he could do without.

"Are you the one who's been giving me this little high?" he clarified, grunting a little as he felt the smaller male beginning to writhe beneath him. The action stopped at the question, and after a moment he received a slow, thoughtful nod as pale yellow eyes focused on him, brows furrowed.

"That didn't quite work out as I had hoped," the younger male sighed, the words hardly louder than the breath he exhaled. He looked off to the side as he realized the implications of his statement, ignoring the fact that he was still pinned under the elder teen. Hands fisted uncomfortably in his hair, forcing him to look back up at unnaturally bright, narrowed blue eyes.

"What didn't work out?" Nero hissed, yanking at the hair in his hands when the male under him didn't answer. "Well?"

The boy pouted. This was really going nowhere. He had been trying to draw energy from his host in order to show him how they were connected, to give him the answers that the older teen had craved, but somehow he'd ended up triggering the high that he usually fed the male when he wanted him to go hunting. Damn his luck. He sighed again.

"Didn't you get any of the information I passed along to you at all?" he asked weakly, drained suddenly. Apparently the triggering of the high had depleted him of whatever energy he had obtained from the white haired male in their little exchange, and he was tired. His eyes were fluttering, he wanted to sink back into a dead black sleep, but he was quickly shaken awake. Worried eyes peered at him, and he wanted to laugh. As much as the manic tendencies of his host amused him, amongst other things, he found it more laughable that he was worrying over him now, especially since he hadn't even known that he had existed, and even now didn't know what he was. So how could he care? It was too much. The laugh escaped his lips.

Immediately hands found their way from his hair to his throat. The exhausted youth flinched, but surprisingly the blue eyed male did not choke him. "No," he finally admitted, growling a little as the concern faded away, the dominating male apparently peeved by the laughter, but then settled down and reconsidered his answer. "Well, actually yes, but I can't access it," he scowled. Yellow eyes peered up at him with interest at this revelation.

_Maybe it didn't all go to waste then,_ the boy mused, though he had to wonder what ended up happening to the plethora of information. He bucked up hesitantly, wanting the other male to get off of him. Nero relented after a moment, though not before brief shock flickered over his face as their hips connected. The yellow eyed youth did not know what to make of the emotion. He had felt Nero's clothed sex as he had pushed up, and- _Oh_.

He rolled over onto his stomach, allowing himself a small grin that disappeared as quickly as it had come, eventually propping himself up to his knees where he went about the business of resuming his former position of rest before he had climbed atop his host. He stretched his legs out lazily before him, however, wanting space that knees drawn to the chest did not provide.

"Oh, fuck this," the yellow eyed male grumbled, picking up on Nero's vocabulary in his irate state as he felt himself becoming restless with the position. He pushed himself up the rest of the way, to join the other male who had decided that it would be better to be standing. Nero crossed his arms.

"Let me just talk," the youth said wearily, Nero becoming accustomed to the waving of a hand to ward off any questions or snide comments he might have raised. He quirked a brow at the action, but thankfully said nothing, only nodding to acknowledge the request.

"Alright then," the boy continued, stuffing his hands once more into the pockets of the loose hoodie. "Where to begin?" he muttered, a frown creasing his normally soft features, absentmindedly beginning to pace.

"Start somewhere," Nero retorted, impatience causing him break his promise to be silent.

The yellow eyed youth abruptly stopped his mindless trudging and stomped right up to his elder, flicking him firmly on his nose. Nero glared and rubbed at the stinging tip, but instead of retaliating, went back to being silent. The younger male squirmed underneath his gaze, however, hands coming up to grip and tug at his black hair in frustration. Where to start? There were so many ways the youth had imagined how his revealing could have gone, but here they were, in one that he hadn't managed to fantasize about. It was nowhere near as glorious as he had hoped it would be, and he pouted, mourning the loss of awe and wonderment that he had wanted from the elder male. _Fine, fine. _He'd have to find other ways to achieve a semblance of glory later on. With this in mind, he took a deep breath-

And faltered. A jolt of electricity ran up his spine, causing the small male to twitch and spasm, eyes rolling back up into his head, and before either male could discern what was happening, he collapsed. Nero had barely started to reach forward in an attempt to catch him when in the bat of an eye he just disappeared, his body not even having crumpled fully to the ground. The demon hunter blinked. All that was left to mark the mysterious boy's existence was a black shroud of fog, which soon dissipated, scattering as it was swept away by a mild breeze.

"Bullshit!" Nero yelled out angrily, spitting out the two syllables as he kicked at the ground, managing to raise a small dust cloud. He stiffened and with narrowed eyes sought out Red Queen. Upon locating her, the seething male grabbed at the ornate sword, gripping her tightly before he set out at a full run. He was pissed, and something needed to die. He was unsure as to where or what he was running to, but knew with growing confidence that he would eventually find it. The teen willed himself to run faster, not wanting to dwell on the questions crowding his mind. He desperately needed distraction. And that was when the ground decided to swallow him whole.

* * *

A sharp cough, followed in quick succession by the scraping of a chair, filled the otherwise silent office of Devil May Cry.

"C'mon! That's just nasty!" Dante gagged, massaging at his throat. He had just bolted upright from a nap at his desk, choking as he'd almost swallowed what he discovered to be a fly. A damn _fly_. He'd felt something, said fly, moving around the back of his throat, the little fucker, and he'd had a hard time getting it out, the longer its departure was delayed bringing Dante closer to the point of throwing up. It'd _finally_ found its way out, but after that disgusting little incident, Dante had no desire to continue his nap.

The half demon glared at the magazine that was sprawled open on the floor, blaming it for what had happened. If it had stayed on his face like it usually did while he was sleeping, none of this would have happened. He heaved a sigh as the glare faded, and he stooped to pick up the glossy pages.

"Now that shit was hilarious, old man," a voice piped up. Dante's gaze went from the magazine he had in his hand to the bar, the general vicinity where he thought the voice had come from. He did a little takeback when he saw Nero lying down on his back on top of the counter, legs dangling off to rest atop an old red barstool. His weapons were scattered about him, as if he'd just flung them off and climbed to his current place of rest, Blue Rose further above his head out of reach on the counter and Red Queen abandoned on the floor.

"How long have you been there, kid?" he asked, recovering from the mild shock at seeing the teen unexpectedly, tossing the magazine he held onto his desk and adjusting his chair to sit in a more comfortable position. Nero shrugged nonchalantly.

"About ten minutes?" he guessed. "Apparently just in time to settle down and witness you inhaling a fly," he added with a snicker. Dante cleared his throat, making a face at the memory.

There was a comfortable silence as both males went back to their thoughts, before Dante spoke up.

"Are you still up for hunting, kid, or did you get it all out of your system during your little trip?" he questioned, beginning to rummage around the drawers of the old desk. The ex-Order member snorted.

"As if." He wondered what the hell Dante was looking for, not caring enough to turn to look.

A few minutes of harried searching finally paid off as the elder devil hunter looked up, pulling out and triumphantly waving about a slip of paper from the third drawer he had opened.

"Mission," he said, in way of explanation as Nero raised his head to look at it. The kid made an "Oh" face and let his head drop back down. "No need to get so excited," Dante remarked sarcastically. Nero made a disgruntled noise.

"The last two days were pretty shitty," he grumbled vaguely, rolling to his side and sliding off the counter to seat himself on a barstool, hands braced on the worn red leather between his legs.

"Oh, so you do know how long you've been gone," the elder mused, watching the teen with an amused expression.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" the teen shot back, defensive.

"I was just curious," Dante smirked, raising his palms in surrender. Nero scowled.

And turned a deep red as his stomach gave the most heart-wrenching yowl either of them had ever heard.

Dante's lips twitched, trying hard to hold back the grin that threatened to plaster itself silly on his face, but the façade crumbled in mere seconds, and he was soon laughing uncontrollably, slapping a hand against the old desk in his mirth.

Embarrassment turning to anger, Nero looked around himself for something, anything, to shut the older man up. An empty beer can caught his eye, and, reaching for it, he crushed it in his demonic hand, lobbing the missile at Dante's head.

"Hey!" The elder male protested, rubbing at his forehead, though he was still chuckling, which earned him one of Nero's boots this time. "Alright, alright!" He waved his hands, declaring defeat. He took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself down, though every now and then the odd chuckle still slipped out.

"Old man…" Nero growled. A warning.

Dante shook his head, smirking. "Kid, you need to learn how to _relax_," he teased, throwing the teen's boot back to him. He wiped at his eyes, which had the younger male groaning. Great, Dante had laughed so hard that he'd _cried_.

Nero flipped him off, the single glowing digit pulsing slightly. "I'll relax on my own terms," he muttered, lowering the offending hand as another growl, thankfully not as mortifying as the first one had been, was emitted from his empty stomach.

Dante grinned. "Whatever you say, kid. _Anyways_, hmm… Trish so kindly decided to stock up on groceries yesterday, for your sake," he informed, shaking his head. He wondered if the punk had not eaten in the while that he had been gone.

Sure enough, at the mention of food, the kid perked up, his mad blushing mostly gone by now, save a few splotches of pink on his face.

"Awesome," he grunted, pulling off his other boot and letting it fall to the floor, beside the one Dante had so kindly returned to him, his socks following. "I'm starving."

Nero pushed himself off of the red seat, stretching sore muscles as he stood up. He quickly gathered his weapons, feeling Dante's gaze on him, but thankfully the half demon said nothing.

The teen knew he looked like shit, considering his clothes were torn and ragged, as well as dyed with blood, but he ignored the stare and went wandering into the kitchen in search of something to eat. Peering into the refrigerator, he collected the necessary ingredients for a sandwich, the need for immediate food greater than the longing for a hot meal. Sighing, Nero prepared the sandwich quickly, devouring it in record time and making a second. He was ravenous. The process continued until his body finally protested that it was full, and Nero cleared the tiny kitchen table, wiping it down as an afterthought.

Walking back into the office area where Dante still sat at his desk, Nero was lost in thoughts of a relaxing shower and had only climbed a couple of steps towards his room when he stopped and swore. His clothes. Fuck, they were still in the washer. _Shiiiiiiiit_.

He jumped when large hands clamped themselves down onto his shoulders. "What did I say about relaxing, eh?" Dante's breath was hot in his ear. Nero shivered at the contact. He quickly broke from the elder's grasp and bolted up a few more steps, turning around to find the cocky male wearing a knowing smirk.

"Shut up," he scowled out of habit, hazarding a guess at the dirty thoughts in the older male's mind.

"Don't feel like it, kid," Dante shrugged, becoming somewhat serious. "I'm heading out for a mission in half an hour. It might take up the rest of the day, so I'll probably be back in the morning. Don't do anything I wouldn't." With a wink he ascended the steps and pushed past Nero, pausing at the top. "By the way, your clothes should be in your room. I had Trish dry them when I found the damn things in the washer while I was trying to put in a load of my own." At that the half demon disappeared down the hall and into his room.

Nero couldn't believe his good fortune, counting his lucky stars when not only did Dante's words turn out to be true, but upon also discovering that the lightning demoness had been nice enough to fold and hang all of his clothes.

Falling into routine, the male took a long shower, acknowledging Dante's departure halfway through it at the light tapping on the bathroom door. When he finished, the sheer exhaustion his body complained of led him to his bed, where he collapsed, falling into a restless sleep.

He wouldn't wake until midnight, in search of a cup of water, which, after downing , would allow him to wander over to Dante's desk and discover the slip of paper the male had pulled out earlier in the day. Its contents would weigh on his mind for a few hours until just before dawn, when he'd fall back asleep downstairs on a leather couch, only to be awoken by the sound of the shop's double doors smashing open at noon precisely. But for now, all he could do was occasionally groan and flop from side to side, the slight actions the only things betraying the screaming in his mind as it attempted to grasp shards of disappearing dreams.

* * *

**Author's Notes **(continued):Fucksomuchdetail, _anyways_- Alright, stuff.

I wanted to say that I already have another story forming in my mind, and this one actually has a plot figured out and stuff, thank God, haha. It's mostly based off of my experience of trying to obtain the blue orb shard in Secret Mission 05, Sky Scraper. So much time wasted on that bloody mission, and in the end I got it due to sheer dumb luck. Which I will take, since I am, and was, that desperate. It'll be a one-shot thing, if that term means what I think it means, as in, no multiple chapters/only one chapter? (My mind wants to associate that word with pr0nz, for some reason.)

Moving on, I also wanted to point out that so far it looks like I'm going to stick to this story, but I don't know how frequent my updates will be. I get distracted super easily, and I already have another project on the side that I abandoned to start writing this. And it could very well happen that I pick up said project again, and in the process abandon this one, but I'll try not to let that happen, and balance both of them out. (I'm working on a sword for a cosplay, an Alto Angelo, to be exact. If done correctly, it should kick so much ass. If not, I'll just weep and wish for a real blade.) However, sorry if I get bored and pick up reading books and drawing again. It would help if y'all guys prodded me to keep on writing, if, and only if, y'all wish for the story to continue. Though, if I don't get bored of it, I'd probably continue it anyways, since then I'd just be writing for myself. And for those still reading the story at that point.

I honestly don't know what you guys will think of this chapter and such (I'm a hopeless pessimist, much love), so I can only hope that y'all will enjoy it? Yeah, I introduced an OC. Actually, he's a mixture of two OCs of mine, Drake Winchester and Christian Maples, demi-gods, whoot. (Right, with those names.) I don't even remember how they came about. Mixed OC has Drake's appearance, though, and Christian's personality. Which might be kind of sad, because I subject Christian to endless torture. I have a thing for angst, ah.

Oh, wait. There is one other thing that unnamed OC has in common physically with Christian, kind of… Genderless.

Meh.

Un-beta'd.

LMAO, if any of y'all read Blood's review/my response to it, yeah… I actually welcome all reviews, no matter what they say. Unless they're like, just full of hate, or whatever. Blood's review was definitely helpful, and sure, yeah, I'm a little emotional bitch when I read stuff like that at first, but seriously, they'll help shape me up. If I'm not too dense, that is, haha. I'll come to terms that I'm not being degraded, aha.

So, **please review**? It doesn't have to be anything long at all, actually. I'd even love to see an emoticon, or that you just happened to read the story. Sure, you could say that you didn't like it, but hey, at least I'll know that it was read?

So… once more, thank you for reading, and hopefully you don't feel like you just wasted whatever amount of time you spent reading this, ahaha. o uo)b

P.S. Afterthoughts!

I hit the Enter button a whole lot more! Please tell me if this is a good or bad thing. I took the advice of Artimis Lee, and yeah, hopefully it led to good things.

AmorBour: I am going to mourn this person until hopefully they return and finish their story/stories. (Unless they got fed up with the stress of writing, or are dead. Then I'll be sad forever.) I got hooked on their Antiphrasis, sigh.

And apologies if this chapter feels off. Some of it feels choppy even to me, irk.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes**: Warnings and disclaimer before the story, other misc. info that I feel like adding shall be put after.

**Warning(s)**: Rated **M** for **Mature**, **18+**, etc., for **swearing**, **cursing**, and any and all **inappropriate language**. For those bothered by trifle things such as **two males kissing and/or messing around**, here's a **male/male** warning for you, **yaoi**, or whatever. I'll throw a caution for **violence** in there as well, just in case.

**Disclaimer**: No, I do not own, in any shape or form, the characters, places, events, etc., portrayed in the games, anime, novels, manga, and other such things associated with Devil May Cry. Those all belong to Capcom and whoever else worked on aforementioned items, or their owners, at least. Anything that is unfamiliar, such as OCs, are definitely mine, and I'd appreciate it if they weren't to be reused, if anyone were to actually be interested enough in them to want to do such a thing.

* * *

"Nero... Nero, wake up." A soft voice whispered into the teen's ear, the breath hot and sticky. No matter how softly the words were spoken, however, they were still met with a groan. Nero did not want to be roused from his slumber. He turned his head away from the voice in irritation, brows furrowing.

"Go 'way," he mumbled, voice thick with sleep. The part devil snuggled further into the inviting leather, features relaxing when he didn't hear a reply. He was steadily sinking back into a deep sleep when he was suddenly jarred awake, the peace and silence around him shattering. The front doors shuddered once in warning as they were assaulted, wood splintering when they yielded to their unknown aggressor upon a second blow. The panels slammed violently against the walls, and Nero heard a set of light footsteps click-clacking their way into the shop from his newfound position on the floor. They were soon followed by the familiar heavier thudding of boots, which Nero recognized with a start. _Dante_. As if in confirmation, the shop's proprietor spoke.

"Lady, was that really necessary?" Dante sighed, stopping to inspect the doors. Thankfully, they weren't too damaged from her savage attack. It's not that Dante cared much, but he really didn't need to add repair bills on top of his already staggering debt.

"It's not my fault your ass is slow," the devil huntress replied, pointedly pushing up her shades with the sweep of an extended middle finger. Dante ignored the gesture.

"No, you're just impatient," he countered, removing Rebellion from his back, shrugging off the red leather jacket he wore as he made his way to his desk. Lady snorted as she followed him. "Besides," he added, "I know you saw me pulling up. You could have just waited for me to unlock the doors."

"I was waiting out there for ten minutes! I thought you said Nero would be here." The woman grumbled, but grudgingly admitted to Dante's last statement. "And true, but in my defense, I was kind of already in the middle of-"

"Knocking them down?" Dante grinned, causing the bi-color eyed woman to look away, muttering something under her breath. The grin turned into a look of mild surprise as he registered the rest of the conversation. "Wait, Nero's not here?" he asked, the emotion on his face showing up in the words. The demon huntress shrugged passively.

"Well, that's what I assumed. I mean, he's usually up by this hour, isn't he?" Dante grunted in agreement.

With the conversation turned to him, Nero decided that it was time to get himself off of the floor. Reaching half-heartedly for an armrest, the sleepy male dragged himself up until his head was visible over the back of the couch. A yawn escaped him, and both Dante and Lady turned to look at him in unison.

"Good morning, kid." Dante smirked, taking in Nero's rumpled form. "Guess he's here after all," he smugly told Lady, who just adjusted Kalina Ann on her back, folding her arms over her chest with a frown.

"Noon," she corrected automatically. "It's noon. And you, sleeping at this hour?" she inquired of Nero, letting a smudge of exasperation bleed into her voice. "No wonder you weren't answering the door. Dante must be rubbing off on you," she decided. The teen ignored her, stretching to his full height.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with sleeping in late," Dante protested, somewhat defensive. Lady scoffed, turning to him with disbelief written on her face.

"Sure, every once in a while is fine," she retorted, "and Hell, I don't mind it if it's because you stayed up late doing something, but _you_." Lady leaned closer to the half devil, moving a hand away from her body to jab at Dante's chest with a finger. "That's not you in either case. You sleep in 'til twelve every damn day, and on top of that, you're napping all the time. I swear, you're like a fucking cat."

Nero felt the corners of his mouth lift into a small smirk at the statement, agreeing wholeheartedly, but he left for the kitchen as the other two began to squabble, closing the normally open door behind himself before he could catch what the other man was going to say. He headed to the sink, turning on the faucet, and dipped his head to drink at the cold water. He couldn't be bothered to grab at a cup, his mouth feeling incredibly dry. Pulling in a mouthful of the refreshing liquid, he swished it around before spitting it back out; he repeated this procedure a couple more times, finally allowing himself to down the drink when his mouth didn't feel like cotton anymore. After he had his fill, he hesitated before leaning down further, tentatively allowing the water to run over his hair. It had the cooling effect he was hoping for, and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to enjoy the sensation.

Thoughts drifting momentarily back to the busty female in the office, Nero sighed. He really didn't have a problem with Lady, but there were times when he found her inexplicably annoying. Like right now. Maybe it was just her presence that irritated him? He shook his head. She hadn't particularly done anything yet, but Nero suspected that if he had stayed in the office, there was a pretty good chance that she'd end up working herself up over the little argument she and Dante were having. That was why he had left the room. If the woman had one fault, it would be her bull-headedness. Once provoked, she could out-argue someone or die trying, ranting and bitching over the most stupid shit. He really didn't feel like dealing with that, whenever and if it ever happened. Dante didn't really make things better, either, seeing as he was usually the catalyst of her rage.

Shutting the faucet off, Nero wrung the water from his wet locks, fisting the silvery white hair. He groped around for a roll of paper towels, ripping off two of the square sheets and drying his face as he pushed back from the sink. He debated on getting something to eat, deciding to snack on something. His hunger was making its presence known, but hadn't fully kicked in yet. The young male sought out some fruit and yogurt in the refrigerator, deciding on a fruit salad of sorts. The cheese he pulled out after was an afterthought, his mouth craving the flavor. He went about peeling and chopping the fruit, pouring the yogurt into a bowl and sprinkling the diced pieces when he was done. The thick slice of cheese he cut was set off to the side, to be nibbled on as he enjoyed the sweet mixture.

_I wonder if I should go back…_ he pondered, remembering how Lady had come to the shop expecting to find him. Licking his spoon clean of pink cream, his decision was made as soon as his gaze locked onto the basement door. Not wanting to find himself looking at it as he ate, he cleaned up behind himself, making sure to leave the kitchen door open as he walked towards the other two hunters. Lady was (thankfully) calm, and she and Dante were hunched over some open folders and papers scattered on the elder demon slayer's desk. It seemed that neither noticed Nero making his way towards them. He was about to make his presence known when Dante spoke.

"Hey kid, did you end up seeing this?" Dante gestured at a piece of paper that Lady tapped on twice. As Nero leaned over to inspect it, he realized it was the one he had read last night.

"Yeah," he replied, swallowing a spoonful of the yogurt covered fruit. "What about it?" he asked.

"This is something I came to Dante with," Lady began, trailing off when a light series of chimes abruptly filled the air. Grimacing, she massaged at the bridge of her nose. Dante chuckled softly as Lady began digging around in her pockets. Fishing out a cell phone, she read the text she'd received, not exactly displeased with the information, but not entirely welcoming it either. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, biting her lip as she sent a quick reply back.

"I have to go," she announced unceremoniously, tucking the device away. "A client needs me to arrive earlier than I had originally planned," she offered at Dante's unasked question. The older male nodded once to acknowledge the response, his peripheral vision catching as Nero sat down at the desk, pushing aside a folder to set down his bowl. "I trust you two can handle this on your own? Just sort through the stuff I brought," she indicated to the mess on the desk. "And, I'll be expecting my share of the payment when I get back." Lady added. She grinned at the brief look of despair on Dante's face at the mention of money, which quickly gave way to a scowl. She stopped the male before he could protest. "Now, now, don't be like that. At least I bring you jobs that pay decent." Turning from the two demon hunters, Lady walked out of the shop, amidst the mutter of "greedy bitch" from the elder male.

Dante's scowl faded as he looked at Nero, the roar of Lady's bike fading down the street. "Hey kid, out of my seat," he said, placing his hands on his hips. He was treated to one of the kid's glares.

"Make me, old man," the younger male replied, sticking his tongue out childishly. "I sat down first." Dante raised a brow.

"That shit doesn't work with me," he warned. "My desk, my chair. Now get."

"No," the hot-headed teen shot back. "I'm not moving."

"Oh, you're not? We'll see about that," the elder male muttered with a smirk, going around the desk.

Nero's expression immediately turned wary, but he relinquished his bowl to the desk in favor of curling his fingers on the edges of the chair, maintaining a firm grip on the seat. He dug his heels into the floor, expecting to be forcibly removed. A low growl escaped his throat, the part demon not aware that he was making the noise. Dante playfully returned the sound, catching the male by surprise at the unexpected way he went about reclaiming his seat. His tactics pretty much consisted of torturously tickling the now blushing youth, who pleaded for mercy, mortified that he was being reduced to a writhing, giggling mess at the other man's touch.

"Old man, _stop_," Nero managed to get out, already having fallen out of the chair, spread out on his back on the floor with Dante over him. Laughter poured forth from his mouth as the half demon continued to tickle him. "I swear I'm going to fucking_ kill_ you if you don't stop," he gasped, trying to gulp down air into his lungs.

"I'd like to see you try," Dante replied cockily, but eventually slowed his teasing, before stopping altogether. Nero was left laughing for a few moments after as his body recovered, but another scowl was quick to settle on his face as the laughter died.

"What the hell was that?" he complained, pulling himself into a sitting position as Dante leaned back from hovering over him. He scooted away from the elder male.

"Me handing you your ass," the half demon answered smugly, gracefully standing up only to seat himself on the now unoccupied chair. He leered down at Nero, and the teen quickly clambered to his feet.

"Bull," he snorted, but he scratched at his nose as he felt his face warming up.

"Suck it up, kid. You know you can't win in a fight against me, so I figured, why not change the game?" Dante laughed as Nero progressively reddened. He easily dodged the punch the flustered male aimed at him, grabbing the fist in a hand.

Nero didn't know how he ended up bent over the desk, his arm twisted behind his back uncomfortably, with the older man pressed against him to keep him in place. He blinked stupidly as his cheek pressed against cool wood, progressively warming up as the desk soaked in his heat. "Um…" He trailed off, surprise leaving him speechless.

"_Yes_?" Dante purred, amusement coloring his voice. Nero snarled, beginning to squirm.

"Get off, you ass," he demanded, trying to reach around with his free hand. The elder male quickly caught the demonic arm, pinning it behind the kid's back along with the other. He held them in place with one of his hands, between the punk's back and his stomach. The other snaked lazily up to tuck a strand of Nero's hair behind his ear.

"Or what?" he breathed, leaning down further to gently lick along the cartilage, before tugging at it with his teeth. The youth stiffened at the action, at the wetness he felt. His voice came out tight.

"Get. _Off_." The words were a hiss, dripping with venom. The tone caught the elder demon slayer off-guard, bringing his mind back from wherever it had wandered off to. The teen was still for a moment more, then started thrashing, the motion escalating in violence and managing to knock some of Lady's folders and his bowl off of the desk until Dante relinquished his grip and stepped back.

Nero was panting as he slid off the desk and onto the floor, accompanied by his now ruined breakfast. He felt the older man's gaze on him, and saw the hand he offered, but the seething male ignored it. He stood up on his own and stormed up to his room, the slam of his door carrying clearly downstairs. Dante cursed softly to himself and ran thick fingers through the white mess that was his hair, wondering how badly he had fucked up.

* * *

Closing the front doors after paying for Dante's pizza order, Nero approached the elder male's desk, a frown fixed on his face. The two boxes he had balanced in the palm of his devil bringer were laid on the surface of the old wood, the teen absentmindedly opening the one on top. Pulling out a rather large slice of the warm pie inside, he briefly wondered if Dante was asleep. That man wasn't even reacting to the smell of spicy meat and cheese that wafted from the boxes. "Old man?" he called out, his voice flat. He reached forward, intent on removing the magazine on the other man's face, but Dante's own gloved hands came up and did the task for him.

Azure eyes peered down at the elder male indifferently from between wet bangs. "Your pizza is here," Nero stated, nudging at the pizza boxes. He bit into the slice he had retrieved, savoring the food as he studied the man before him. Dante was avoiding looking at him, he decided. He slid the pizza boxes to the side just as Dante removed his legs from the desk, reaching for the food. A look of annoyance crossed the elder male's face at this, but he tried again, this time successful. Nero had just moved the pizza aside because he wanted room to climb onto the desk. Doing so, the teen crossed his legs before scooting himself around to face the older demon hunter, righting the pile of folders and papers that his foot accidentally kicked at in the process. Dante must have stacked them, albeit messily, into the corner after their little incident, so that he could kick up his feet for his nap. Some were still smeared with sticky yogurt, though. Looking over the side of the desk, the teen found that his bowl and spilt food had been cleared. Huh, so Dante was capable of cleaning.

Expression neutral, Nero watched as the half demon worked his way through his own pizza slice, ignoring the kid on the desk as he thumbed through a magazine featuring firearms on the cover. Deciding that this was as good a time as any, Nero asked the question that had popped into his mind during his shower.

"Are you gay?"

Dante just about choked upon hearing the words, swallowing prematurely at the query. Mouth moving soundlessly, he thumped a fist twice on his chest in an effort to clear the food stuck there. It took a few more thumps before it was spurred along, slowly, _slowly_ making its way down his esophagus. When the torturous trip ended with the food deposited into his stomach, Dante steadied his breathing, finally looking over to the teen. He set his magazine down with a slap. The kid was still looking at him blankly, no trace of emotion present on his face to aid the famed devil slayer discern what he was thinking or feeling. "_What_?"

The ex-Order member sighed a little, but repeated his question, finishing the food in his hand and reaching for another slice. Dante thought he was having his chain jerked at first. An uncertain grin stretched his lips. "What the hell kinda question is _that_?" he asked, trying to play it off, but the laughter in his throat died when Nero said nothing to this, and only then did he realize that the kid was being serious.

The grin on the older male's face faded and he briefly entertained the notion of just not answering at all. The sneaking suspicion that Nero would be undeterred by the lack of an answer, and, instead, would relentlessly hound him until he got one was what stopped him from going through with that thought. He then considering denying the allegation, but realizing that the question was tied with the incident from earlier, he wondered what other conclusions the teen would jump to. _A joke, perhaps?_ The elder male could always play it off as one; after all, it wasn't like he wasn't known for them. How many times had he been called a pervert because of how he went about conducting them?

The last idea appealed greatly to the half demon, but it bothered him as well. Why hadn't the punk just assumed that that was what it was in the first place? He thought back. Nero had appeared pretty upset at the time, and not in his usual pissed off manner. He had just tried to escape and run off when he had managed to, instead of trying to hold his own. Dante couldn't decide how the part devil would react to hearing it had been in jest if he obviously hadn't seen it as harmless. And in reality, had it been? He took a bite of pizza as he mulled the thought over. Being completely honest with himself, he had started finding the hot-headed youth attractive. It wasn't a particularly strong feeling, but he couldn't deny the fact that on some nights he woke up completely hard, the kid's name on his lips. Sure, he had bent Nero over the desk for kicks at first, but pressing up against him and feeling his body melding with his own made his control slip, and well, here they were.

Dante shifted in his seat. _Oh, what the hell_. He couldn't help the smirk he felt twitching his lips as he settled on his answer. The truth it would be. "Not exactly," he said, arching a brow. Nero looked at him when he started talking, listening intently as he put his slice of pizza down. "I'm not too fond of labels, kid. I just like what I like."

"Meaning…?"

"Meaning, I don't exactly care what's between your legs." Dante's smirk broadened. "Though, having a nice set of tits doesn't hurt." He watched as the kid frowned, taking in the information, though the expression seemed to have formed out of confusion, and not disgust. Or maybe he was disgusted, the older male thought, when Nero hadn't spoken for the better part of five minutes. He waved a hand in front of the part devil's face. "Yo, kid." Dante snapped his fingers. "Nero." The use of his name brought the younger male out of his thoughts. "Is this the part where I find out you're a raging homophobe?"

Nero jerked back as if stung. "Hell no," he growled, recovering from the mild shock he'd undergone at the question. The male hadn't exactly thought about same-sex coupling before. Hell, he hadn't even entertained Fortuna's notion of a proper union, that being between a male and female, but he quickly decided that he couldn't care less about something as trivial as someone's sexuality. He knew what it was like to be feared and hated, so who was he to subject another person to that kind of treatment? Besides, Dante had taken him in and steadily supplied him with jobs, accepting him when he felt like he had nowhere else to go, so he didn't feel like he needed to destroy all that over something as stupid as knowing who the other male preferred to fuck. The former knight stirred when Dante's voice broke into his thoughts once more.

"What are you thinking?" he was asked, the other man's tone serious. The kid balked at the question, but maintained his composure. Since his question had been answered honestly, he decided that it was only fair to reciprocate the favor. He couldn't help but burn a bright red, however, as he considered his response, obviously embarrassed. It was his turn to avoid the other's gaze.

"I didn't know if that little stunt you pulled on me was a joke or not," he muttered, rubbing his nose. "Even if you are a huge pervert and do weird shit, you've never once touched me." Dante tilted his head to the side. "Not in that manner," the teen amended, clenching his demonic hand into a fist, transfixed by the settling scales. He sighed, then continued. "I really don't like being touched like that," he said. "By anybody." He finally looked into the elder demon slayer's eyes. "That's why I had to ask. I'd be more willing to forgive what you did if I knew that there was a better motive behind it other than being a stupid prank. Even if that reason was that you were coming on to me." Dante, wiping the pizza grease coating his fingers off on his shirt, slowly lowered his hand.

"Kid, that's some great logic, but there's already one flaw I can see in it." Nero's brow furrowed, puzzled.

"And that would be…?"

"What if I was gay, but I still just did it to fuck with you?" Dante waggled his eyebrows. "Aren't you getting a little cocky, assuming I dig you or some shit like that?" He watched as the kid processed that, becoming flustered at the grin forming on the elder man's lips.

"You are such an _asshole_!" he cried out, exasperation filling the punk's voice. He slapped a palm to his forehead. The elder man was already back to teasing him as he usually did. "I was trying to give you leeway," he growled. "Not that you're appreciating it. Obviously." Dante laughed.

"Aw, c'mon kid, I was just messing with ya." A smile quirked his lips as the other male tugged gently at his hair.

"You're impossible. And a jackass."

"So I've been told." Dante nodded gravely, putting a hand dramatically to his heart. The smile returned briefly, before he looked off to the side, appearing thoughtful for a moment. "So… does this mean I have a chance?" he asked suddenly. Nero frowned at the question.

"At what?" He didn't understand what the older man meant. His confusion only grew as Dante grinned.

"Considering we're being honest and all that warm and fuzzy shit, let me just take this moment to say, I think you're kind of hot," the older male admitted, his eyes flicking appreciatively over the other's figure. "Sure you might think you're against the idea, but I'm pretty sure I could have gotten you into my bed eventually." There was a wicked gleam in his eye as he let the bold statement sink in. Nero blanched.

"What part of me saying I don't like being touched like that did you not understand, old man?" The youth growled, but to Dante's delight, it was a half-hearted sound.

"How far would you let me go before you started flipping out?" The question was just a breath. Nero squirmed uncomfortably, but otherwise didn't move from his spot as Dante stood up and placed an arm on either side of him. The stance effectively held him in place as the male moved forward, causing Nero to lean back.

"Old man," the youth warned, but the male brushed it aside.

"Have you even been kissed?" he wondered aloud, curiosity evident in his icy blue eyes. He didn't invade the ex-Order member's space any further, for which the teen was grateful for. However, the mention of kissing called forth the intimate moment with the yellow eyed youth, and he recoiled.

"Dante, back up. _Now_." A snarl accompanied the command. At the call of his name, the man did as he was told, folding his arms across his chest.

"Touchy subject, eh?" The kid glared at him.

"Shut up." Dante grinned, but let it be. Ambling over to the bar, he leaned across the counter, reaching around for the handle of the mini-fridge. Tugging firmly on it, he pulled out a longneck. "Want one?" he called over his shoulder, holding up the brown bottle. The kid, having settled down, snorted.

"No thanks."

"Suit yourself." Turning back around, Dante leaned against the counter. Nero had found his way off the desk and instead was gathering the stack of folders and papers in his arms. He easily pulled the cap off, tossing it aside. The teen's attention was caught by the small pinging as it bounced on the floor, and the older demon hunter held his bottle out in a mock toast as his gaze landed on him. "To the virgin, my lover," he drawled, a determined smirk on his face. The younger man scowled. Dante decided that it just made him look all the more adorable.

"In your dreams." A chuckle escaped Dante.

"So far, yeah. But it'll become a reality, eventually. And you won't be a virgin for much longer after." The chuckle deepened as Nero gritted his teeth. The elder male waited until the teen headed for the couch on the other end of the room, out of earshot. "You'll love it," he vowed, taking a swig of the amber drink.

* * *

**Author's Notes **(continued): Well, I'm not at all happy with this chapter. At all. It was actually going to be longer, and actually introduce a mission, but damn, I kept writing and rewriting it so much that I just lopped it off and am now tacking it on to the next chapter. Ugh. So all this one accomplished is establishing Dante's sexuality, if even that at all. (I think he's the kind of person that just likes sex. I mean, he'll probably like women more, but if you can make him really enjoy it, I'm sure he wouldn't care if you're a guy, haha.)

Anyways, like fuck, seriously.

And, well, the only thing I'll ask of y'all is if y'all will tell me if I seriously screwed up either of their personality. That's the major thing that's bugging me. ;o;

Like, to the point of crying. Fer real.

But, if you don't think it's a total mess, please tell me? (Though in all honestly, I'm expecting to hear that it suuuckssss. I'll accept either or.)

I'll just say that I'm in a rush to post this, so sorry if nothing I'm saying is making any sense...

As always, thank you for reading, and hopefully you don't feel like you just wasted whatever amount of time you spent reading this, ahaha. o uo)b

I'd love reviews, but I'm not going to beg for them. n un;;;;

They would help me with the direction of this story, though. o uo

And if you have any questions/are confused, you should definitely speak up. I would say that I have a very detailed imagination, but I suck at putting it into words.

Have a nice day. c: Los quiero, haha.


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